Cloud server and method for application layer-independent accelerated triggering of events in a communication network

ABSTRACT

A cloud server obtains a defined signature from a first communication device, where the defined signature is associated with a digital asset at the first communication device. The cloud server validates the defined signature based on a search of the defined signature in a main action database in the cloud server. The cloud server determines that a copyright check is required for the digital asset associated with the defined signature. The cloud server determines an occurrence of copyright violation for digital asset based on resemblance search of the digital asset in copyright database. The cloud server interrupts data packets of the digital asset from being consumed at the first communication device based on the occurrence of copyright violation determined for the digital asset. The interruption of the data packets is executed at one or more layers different from an application layer of a network architecture at the first communication device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY

None.

REFERENCE Field of Technology

Certain embodiments of the disclosure relate to a communication,verification, and security system. More specifically, certainembodiments of the disclosure relate to a cloud server and a method forapplication layer-independent accelerated triggering of events in acommunication network.

BACKGROUND

Every layer of a network architecture used for communication has its ownunique function. In one example, the Open System Interconnection (OSI)model defines the networking framework (i.e., the hierarchical networkarchitecture) for implementing protocols in seven layers, namely theapplication layer, the presentation layer, the session layer, thetransport layer, the network layer, the data link layer, and thephysical layer, where the application layer is considered the topmostlayer and the physical layer is considered the bottom layer. Typically,at a given communication device, control is passed from one layer to thenext, starting at the application layer (i.e., the human-computerinteraction layer, for example, for transmission of user data) andproceeding up to the bottom layer, i.e., the physical layer. Thephysical layer is responsible for the transmission of raw data, which issimply a series of 0s and 1s, i.e., a raw bit stream, over acommunication medium in the form of electrical impulse, light, or radiosignal to another communication device, in which data signal receivedfrom physical layer moves up the hierarchical network architecture tothe application layer to finally present the user data received inmeaningful form (i.e., passes back up the hierarchy). The applicationlayer supports application and end-user processes. In other words, theapplication layer is used by end-user software, such as web browsers andemail clients. It provides protocols that allow the software to send andreceive information and present meaningful data to users. A few examplesof application layer protocols are the Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Post Office Protocol (POP), SimpleMail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Domain Name System (DNS). Theapplication layer is the most open-ended of all of the layers being thetopmost layer, and the open-ended nature of the application layer isknown to present threats. In one example, applications with weak or noauthentication may be prime targets for unauthorized use and abuse overa network. In another example, software programs may have backdoors orshortcuts that bypass otherwise secure controls and provide unauthorizedaccess.

In certain scenarios, it may be difficult to track every usage of adigital asset owned by a user after the digital asset is created. Forexample, the digital asset may be distributed or re-distributed multipletimes across a single digital platform or across different digitalplatforms, and different applications may be used by various end-usersto consume the digital asset. For instance, the non-fungible tokens(NFTs) concept is gaining popularity where any unique digital asset, forexample, an image, video, audio, art, etc., can be tokenized as NFT.Consequently, several NFT marketplaces (NFTMs), have emerged in recentyears to facilitate buying and selling NFTs with crypto payment, wherethe digital asset ownership transfer may happen in a single transactionand be recorded in a blockchain. Currently, the application layercontrols any triggering of events, such as a blockchain event, an eventassociated with a smart contract, an event associated with a fungibletoken (e.g., a cryptocurrency), or an event associated with anon-fungible token (NFT), and the like. This creates a technicalvulnerability in tracking of each and every usage of the digital assetor a digital service. Furthermore, legitimacy is one of the prominentissues with NFTs, as current technology do not prevent an impostor fromtokenizing and selling someone else's piece of art (i.e., a digitalasset), while the creator remains oblivious of the fraud.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present disclosureas set forth in the remainder of the present application with referenceto the drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A cloud server and a method for application layer-independentaccelerated triggering of events in a communication network,substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at leastone of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.

These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the presentdisclosure, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof,will be more fully understood from the following description anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network environment diagram illustrating various componentsof an exemplary ecosystem with a cloud server and communication devicesfor application layer-independent accelerated triggering of events, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating different components of anexemplary cloud server, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating different components of anexemplary communication device, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a network architecture forcommunication over a communication medium between two communicationdevices for application layer-independent accelerated triggering ofevents in a communication network, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a network environment diagram with a cloud server and acommunication device for application layer-independent acceleratedtriggering of events in a communication network, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively is a flowchart diagram illustrating amethod for application layer-independent accelerated triggering ofevents in a communication network, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

Certain embodiments of the disclosure may be found in a cloud server anda method for application layer-independent accelerated triggering ofevents in a communication network. The cloud server, communicationdevice, the method of the present disclosure significantly reduces thelatency and vulnerability involved in application-layer based processingand triggering of events by making the triggering mechanism be executedat the lowest digitalized layer (e.g., the datalink layer) of a networkarchitecture (e.g., OSI network architecture). In other words, the cloudserver, the communication device, and the method of the presentdisclosure enables application layer-independent accelerated triggeringof events in the communication network (e.g., a blockchain event, anevent associated with a smart contract, an event associated with afungible token (e.g., a cryptocurrency), or an event associated with anon-fungible token (NFT) may be triggered at the datalink layer in anexample. This improves the reliability and accuracy of tracking eachuser consumption of a digital asset on a device, such as thecommunication device while reducing the known vulnerabilities of theapplication layer. The cloud server, the communication device and themethod of the present disclosure provides an ecosystem to track anyusage of a digital asset even if the digital asset is distributed orre-distributed multiple times across a single digital platform or acrossdifferent digital platforms.

Furthermore, legitimacy is one of the prominent issues with NFTs, ascurrent technology do not prevent an impostor from “tokenizing” andselling someone else's piece of art (i.e., a digital asset), while thecreator remains oblivious of the fraud. Mostly, with currenttechnological systems and framework, the onus of verifying the token ison a user who becomes involved with any activity, such as using anonline platform to buy an NFT. Unfortunately, this is not always easyand counterfeits NFTs, also called copycats or parody projects, aremushrooming. The cloud server, the communication devices, and the methodof the present disclosure provides the ecosystem where significanttechnological improvement is achieved to prevent or at least minimizethe legitimacy issue to a great extent. The cloud server determineswhether a copyright check is required for any given digital asset andaccurately determines an occurrence of a copyright violation for thedigital asset. In such a case, the cloud server immediately (i.e., inreal time or near real time) interrupts the data packets from beingconsumed (i.e., being played or communicated) to any unauthorized useror device at wire speeds as such interruption may be executedindependent of the application layer. In the following description,reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a parthereof, and which is shown, by way of illustration, in variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a network environment diagram illustrating various componentsof an exemplary ecosystem with a cloud server and communication devicesfor application layer-independent triggering of events, in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a network environment of an ecosystem 100 that includesa cloud server 102, a plurality of communication devices 104, such as afirst communication device 104A, a second communication device 104B, . .. , and Nth communication device 104N. There is further shown acommunication network 106 and a Distributed Ledger and Smart Contract(DLSC) system 108. The ecosystem 100 may further include a plurality ofnodes 110 that are communicatively coupled to each other. The DLSCsystem 108 may include a smart contract system 112. There is furthershown a distributed ledger 114 that remain distributed and in-sync inthe plurality of nodes 110.

In an implementation, the cloud server 102 may be one of the pluralityof nodes 110 and thus may also include the distributed ledger 114. Insome implementations, each of the plurality of communication devices 104may also be one of the plurality of nodes 110, may store the distributedledger 114, and may be a part of the DLSC system 108. In some otherimplementations, each of the plurality of communication devices 104 maynot be required to store any distributed ledger 114 itself and maycommunicate with the cloud server 102, which in turn manage andfacilitate any interaction with the DLSC system 108 for the plurality ofcommunication devices 104. A plurality of users, such as users 116A,116B, . . . , 116N, may interact with the cloud server 102 and the DLSCsystem 108 (directly or indirectly via the cloud server 102) using theirrespective communication devices via the communication network 106, asshown.

The cloud server 102 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and interfacesthat may be configured to communicate with the plurality ofcommunication devices 104 and other nodes of the plurality of nodes 110.In an implementation, the cloud server 102 may be a master cloud serveror a master machine that is a part of a data center that controls anarray of other cloud servers communicatively coupled to it, for loadbalancing, running customized applications, and efficient datamanagement. The cloud server 102 may include a main action database102A. The main action database 102A may be a database that defines anaction corresponding to each defined signature (e.g., a uniqueindicator). In other words, the defined signature may be pre-registeredand pre-assigned to the one or more predefined actions in the mainaction database 102A. The defined signature may be embedded in a dataitem so that every time the data item is played at any device, such asany one of the plurality of communication devices 104, the playingdevice may detect the defined signature at the lowest layer of thenetwork architecture (i.e., a datalink layer), which then triggers anaction defined in the main action database 102A. The actions may bepredefined by a user or by an artificial intelligence (AI) system.

Each communication device of the plurality of communication devices 104includes suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may beconfigured to communicate with the cloud server 102. Each communicationdevice of the plurality of communication devices 104 may be one of aconsumer electronic (CE) device (such as a smartphone, a virtual realityheadset, an augment reality device, and the like), an edge device, arepeater device, a small cell, a customer premise equipment (CPE), aroad-side unit (RSU) device, a fixed wireless access (FWA) device, anin-vehicle device, telecommunication hardware, or user equipment (UE).

The communication network 106 may include a medium through which thevarious devices in the ecosystem 100, such as the cloud server 102, theplurality of communication devices 104, and the plurality nodes 110, maycommunicate with each other. In some embodiments, a secured anddedicated communication channel may be established between the pluralityof communication devices 104 and the cloud server 102. The communicationnetwork 106 may be implemented by use of various wired and wirelesscommunication protocols. Examples of such wired and wirelesscommunication protocols may include, but are not limited to, at leastone of a Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP),peer-to-peer network, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), ZigBee, EDGE, IEEE802.11, light fidelity (Li-Fi), 802.16, IEEE 802.11s, IEEE 802.11g,multi-hop communication, wireless access point (AP), device-to-devicecommunication, cellular communication protocols, or Bluetooth (BT)communication protocols, or a combination thereof. Other examples of thecommunication network 106 may include, but are not limited to, theInternet, a cloud network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, asecured Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Local Area Network (LAN),a telephone line (POTS), or other wired or wireless networks.

In an implementation, the DLSC system 108 may refer to a blockchainnetwork with associated smart contracts, such as the smart contracts 112a, 112 b, . . . , 112 n of the smart contract system 112.

In one example, each node of the plurality of nodes 110 may beconfigured to discover other nodes and then communicate the discoverednodes to known nodes in the DLSC system 108 (e.g., a blockchainnetwork). Each node may be configured to communicate transactions toother nodes, regardless of whether the transactions originate with thenode or were communicated to it by other nodes of the plurality of nodes110. This way, any given transaction may be disseminated to all nodes ofthe plurality of nodes 110. Each node of the plurality of nodes 110 maybe configured to maintain the distributed ledger 114. The distributedledger 114 may include records of historical interactions in a timesequence related to the flow of events (e.g., start and end of an event)or movement of content rights from one user to another user. In someembodiments, in addition to content rights, the distributed ledger 114may include records of historical interactions in a time sequence foruser content consumption associated with each communication device ofthe plurality of communication devices 104, user content consumptionrelated measurement data/analytics, and content catalog information, andthe like.

In accordance with an embodiment, each node of the plurality of nodes110 may cryptographically hash transaction data of each transaction.This hash may be then digitally signed by the transaction creator with aprivate key of a private key—public key pair. The public key is sharedwith other nodes, whereas the private key is kept as a secret. Thisallows a node to verify the creator (or the initiator) of thetransaction and also that the transaction data may not be alteredaccording to the hash digitally signed by the creator. Every singletransaction may be verified by checking the distributed ledger 114distributed at the plurality of nodes 110. Recent validated transactionsmay be grouped as a block, for example, a block of a custom blockchain,and hashed using a hashing algorithm defined by a protocol adopted bythe blockchain (e.g., Ethereum blockchain). Each block may have a uniquehash value that is derived from a previous block's final hash,transaction data's hash value, and a defined mathematical value. Therules of the protocol may be defined in the genesis block, i.e., thefirst group or block.

In accordance with an embodiment, transactions make up the core unit ofdata that may be recorded into the distributed ledger 114 of the DLSCsystem 108. Each transaction may be created by a node or a communicationdevice of the plurality of communication devices 104, recorded into thedistributed ledger 114, and then communicated to other nodes (or othercommunication devices if the other communication devices are also partof the blockchain network, such as the DLSC system 108) to be rejectedand dismissed or validated and recorded into their ledgers, such as thedistributed ledger 114 maintained at each node. The data traffic createdby the transactions between the plurality of nodes 110 and the pluralityof communication devices 104 via the cloud server 102 is what definesthe ecosystem 100 or the marketplace for creating, using, trackingusage, selling, or buying of a digital asset, and further seekingpermission of a service (e.g., a telecommunication service to improvequality of service, permission to fly a drone near an airport throughdynamic smart contract via the DLSC system 108), provisioning of therequested service, movement of ownership of content rights, and thelike. Generally, the term “digital asset” may refer to any type ofmedia, for example, audio, a video, a data cast, a piece of music, atext, an image, a graphic item, an article, a photo, a photo gallery, avideo gallery, an infographic, a map, a poll, a guest biography, atweet, a social media post, a blog post, a virtual land, a gamingcharacter, or any item that may be converted to an NFT, and/or the like.Moreover, each of the transactions may be, for example, a) anannouncement of a newly created user; b) an announcement of the newlyavailable content item, such as a digital asset; d) acquisition ofrights to content; e) a user consumption of a content item; and f) anoccurrence of an event that is registered in the blockchain of the DLSCsystem 108. The transactions may occur in a sequence, forming a chain ofevents. In an implementation, only new transaction in the distributedledger 114 may be added, and a previous transaction is not editable orchangeable. As a copy of the distributed ledger 114 may be maintained ateach node of the plurality of nodes 110, where a deliberate attempt tomodify a previous transaction at one node may not be matched or found incopies of the distributed ledger 114 maintained by other nodes, andthus, such modification is not accepted. Thus, events occurrence historymaintained by way of a sequence of transactions is immutable andsecured.

The smart contract system 112 may include a number of smart contracts,such as smart contracts 112 a, 112 b, . . . , 112 n. Each smart contractmay be a set of instruction (e.g., a program) stored on a blockchain,such as the DLSC system 108, that runs when predetermined conditions aremet, for example, to trigger an action defined in the main actiondatabase 102A when a defined signature is detected by the cloud server102 or any one of the plurality of communication devices 104.Alternatively, the defined signature may point to an action in the mainaction database 102A, which then triggers a smart contract. In otherwords, the detection of the defined signature in a packet or a frame bya given device, such as the first communication device 104A, may firstpoint to the main action database 102A to find what action to executenext and that action may be an execution of a specific smart contract.Alternatively, the detection of the defined signature in a packet or aframe of user data by a given device, such as the first communicationdevice 104A, may first point to a specific smart contract which, whenexecuted, leads to a search in the main action database 102A to findwhat action to execute next. The defined signature, its detection, andoperations associated with a communication device of the plurality ofcommunication devices 104, has been described in detail, for example, inFIGS. 4, 5, and 6A to 6C.

Beneficially, the present disclosure provides the ecosystem 100 thatenables application layer-independent accelerated triggering of eventsin the communication network 106 (e.g., a blockchain event, an eventassociated with a smart contract, an event associated with a fungibletoken (e.g., a cryptocurrency), or an event associated with anon-fungible token (NFT) may be triggered at the datalink layer in anexample. Currently, it is well known that the application layer of anetwork architecture (e.g., the topmost layer of the 7 layer OSI model)controls any triggering of events, such as a blockchain event, an eventassociated with a smart contract, an event associated with a fungibletoken (e.g., a cryptocurrency), or an event associated with anon-fungible token (NFT), and the like. In conventional systems, such atriggering mechanism for recording any transaction or initiating anyevent is controlled by the topmost layer of the network architecture,which creates a technical vulnerability and a challenge in the trackingof each and every usage of the digital asset or a digital service. Inother words, the tracking may not be possible for every instance ofusage (e.g., a user consumption, such as view, download, access,playing, or gaining ownership rights of the digital asset, orprovisioning any customized service in telecommunications) may not befailsafe in existing systems.

In contrast to the existing systems, the communication devices, such asthe cloud server 102, the first communication device 104A, and themethod of the present disclosure removes the dependency on theapplication layer for being the source of triggering events, such asevents related to a smart contract, blockchain, NFT relatedtransactions, or fungible tokens, and enables to bring the triggeringmechanism down to the lowest of the digitized layer in the networkinghierarchy, i.e., the datalink layer, thereby accelerating and securingtriggering of any events (e.g., a blockchain event) in the communicationnetwork 106. In other words, the cloud server 102, and the communicationdevices, such as the first communication device 104A, and the method ofthe present disclosure enables application layer-independent acceleratedtriggering of events in the communication network 106 (e.g., ablockchain event, an event associated with a smart contract, an eventassociated with a fungible token (e.g., a cryptocurrency), or an eventassociated with a non-fungible token (NFT) may be triggered at thedatalink layer). This in turn improves the reliability and accuracy oftracking each user consumption of a digital asset on a device, such asthe first communication device 104A, while reducing the knownvulnerabilities of the application layer. Furthermore, the plurality ofcommunication devices 104 and the method of the present disclosureprovides the ecosystem 100 to track any usage of a digital asset even ifthe digital asset is distributed or re-distributed multiple times acrossa single digital platform or across different digital platforms. Thus,the ecosystem 100 manifest higher quality of experience (QoE) andreliable digital asset usage and consumption tracking on-the-fly ascompared to existing systems.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating different components of anexemplary cloud server, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure. FIG. 2 is explained in conjunction with elements from FIG. 1. With reference to FIG. 2 , there is shown a block diagram 200 of thecloud server 102. The cloud server 102 may include a processor 202, anetwork interface 204, and a primary storage 206. The primary storage206 may further include the main action database 102A, an electronicgateway system 102B, a verification system 208, a signature generatinginstructions package (SGIP) 210, and a signature generator 212. In animplementation, the cloud server 102 may be a part of the DLSC system108 and may be one of the plurality of nodes 110. In such a case, theprimary storage 206 may further include the distributed ledger 114.There is further shown a copyright database 214.

The processor 202 may be communicatively coupled to the networkinterface 204 and the primary storage 206. The processor 202 may beconfigured to execute various operations of the cloud server 102. Theprocessor 202 may be configured to control various components of thecloud server 102. Examples of the implementation of the processor 202may include but are not limited to a central processing unit (CPU)platform including one or more processors, a specialized digital signalprocessor (DSP), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor,an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, and/or other processors, orcontrol circuitry.

The network interface 204 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to connect andcommunicate with the plurality of communication devices 104. In animplementation, one or more of the plurality of communication devices104 may be one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes 110 in theecosystem 100. Thus, the network interface 204 may communicate with theplurality of nodes 110 via the communication network 106. The networkinterface 204 may implement known technologies to support wired orwireless communication. The network interface 204 may include, but arenot limited to a network interface card (NIC), an antenna, a radiofrequency (RF) transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or moreoscillators, a digital signal processor, a coder-decoder (CODEC)chipset, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, and/or a local buffer.The network interface 204 may communicate via offline and onlinewireless communication with networks, such as the Internet, an Intranet,and/or a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, awireless local area network (WLAN), personal area network, and/or ametropolitan area network (MAN). The wireless communication may use anyof a plurality of communication standards, protocols and technologies,such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA),code division multiple access (CDMA), LTE 4G, 5G, time division multipleaccess (TDMA), BLUETOOTH™, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (such as IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, and/or any other IEEE802.11 protocol), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX,light-fidelity (Li-Fi), Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology,Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) technology, a protocol for email,instant messaging, Short Message Service (SMS), or quantum entanglementbased communication.

The primary storage 206 may be configured to store the main actiondatabase 102A, the electronic gateway system 102B, the verificationsystem 208, the signature generating instructions package (SGIP) 210,and the signature generator 212. The primary storage 206 may be furtherconfigured store values calculated by the processor 202. Examples of theimplementation of the primary storage 206 may include, but not limitedto, a cloud-based storage, a storage array, or other memory and storagesystems. There may be one or more secondary storage servers, such asbackup servers, which may implement backup policies for an automaticbackup of data of the primary storage 206.

The electronic gateway system 102B may be a system that is configured topresent an online platform to any one of the plurality of communicationdevices 104 so that a given user may register itself and register adigital asset in the online platform, which is then associated with theDLSC system 108. The electronic gateway system 102B may be apresentation system that allows remote user interaction with the cloudserver 102, for example, to create an NFT, for viewing any NFT, trackingusage of any NFT in the same platform, or other platforms using thedefined signature, and transferring ownership of rights of the digitalasset and the like. For example, the cloud server 102 may be configuredto present the online platform using the electronic gateway system 102Bfor the first communication device 104A to connect, interact, andconsume the digital asset. In an implementation, the electronic gatewaysystem 102B may be configured to present metadata of multiple contentlibraries that may be owned by different entities, for example,different content owners, distributors, re-distributors, VOD serviceproviders, NFTs, and the like, as a unified content library for itsregistered users, such as the user 116A, to navigate.

The verification system 208 may be configured to verify a given definedsignature received from a given communication device of the plurality ofcommunication devices 104. The verification system 208 may have accessto a list of defined signatures (e.g., a hash index table), which may bematched to see if the received defined signatures is present in the listof defined signatures and if present, what is the corresponding actionto be executed as defined in the main action database 102A for thatparticular defined signature for which the match was confirmed.

The signature generating instructions package (SGIP) 210 may be aninstruction pack that may be communicated to any of the plurality ofcommunication devices 104 on request. In a case where a givencommunication device of the plurality of communication devices 104 donot have pre-installed instructions to generate the defined signature,the given communication device may be configured to acquire the SGIP 210from the cloud server 102 to generate the defined signature. Forexample, a binary version of a source code may be downloaded to generatea given defined signature that can be detected at a packet level orframe level. In other words, a hashing algorithm that provides andgenerates unique hash values may be made available in binary format sothat third party entities or any devices may use it and define an actionfor the defined signature in the ecosystem 100.

The signature generator 212 may be configured to generate the definedsignature, which may be a unique indicator. Once the SGIP 210 isinstalled, the signature generator 212 may be obtained, having logic togenerate a new signature and define an action for the generatedsignature. In an implementation, the defined signature may be a definedindicator or flag, a pre-generated index, or a pattern may berecognizable by a hardware logic, a driver code, a firmware code, anuBoot image of a device. In an example, the defined signature may beimplemented as a hashed value index, which may be generated by thesignature generator 212.

In an implementation, the copyright database 214 may be part of thecloud server 102. In another implementation, the copyright database 214may be provided external to the cloud server 102 but may be accessibleto the cloud server 102. The copyright database 214 along with itsoperations and use are described in detail, for example, in FIG. 5 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating different components of anexemplary communication device, in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure. FIG. 3 is explained in conjunction with elements from FIGS.1 and 2 . With reference to FIG. 3 , there is shown a block diagram 300of the first communication device 104A. The first communication device104A may include a processor 302, a network interface 304, a memory 306,and an output component 308. The memory 306 may include a local database310, a local validity checker 312, a signature generator 314. In someimplementations, the first communication device 104A may be one of theplurality of nodes 110. In such a case, the memory 306 may furtherinclude the distributed ledger 114.

The processor 302 may be communicatively coupled to the networkinterface 304, the memory 306, and the output component 308. Theprocessor 302 may be configured to execute various operations of thefirst communication device 104A. The first communication device 104A maybe a programmable device, where the processor 302 may executeinstructions stored in memory 306. Examples of the implementation of theprocessor 302 may include, but are not limited to an embedded processor,a microcontroller, a specialized digital signal processor (DSP), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, anApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, and/or other processors, orstate machines.

The network interface 304 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to communicate with thecloud server 102 via the communication network 106. In animplementation, the first communication device 104A may be one of theplurality of nodes 110 in the ecosystem 100 may communicate with theplurality of nodes 110 via the communication network 106. The networkinterface 304 may implement known technologies to support wired orwireless communication. Examples of the network interface 304 mayinclude but are not limited to a network interface card (NIC), anantenna, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and the like.

The memory 306 may be configured to store the local database 310, thelocal validity checker 312, and the signature generator 314. Examples ofthe implementation of the memory 306 may include, but not limited to, arandom access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), astatic random access memory (SRAM), a processor cache, a thyristorrandom access memory (T-RAM), a zero-capacitor random access memory(Z-RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), a securedigital (SD) card, a flash drive, cache memory, and/or othernon-volatile memory.

The local database 310 may be a database that may reside in each of theplurality of communication devices 104, i.e., a servicing entity orhardware. The local database 310 may be a memory structured database toupload the serviced defined signature and to eventually synchronize withthe cloud server 102, for example, in a bi-directional synchronization.In an implementation, the local database 310 may be implemented as amemory cache to assist with look ups for defined signatures at wirespeed using the downloaded SGIP 210. In another implementation, theremay be a separate cache for lookups, for example, a subset of the localdatabase 310. The local validity checker 312 may be configured toexecute a local validity check of the defined signature at a givencommunication device of the plurality of communication devices 104 forverification when the defined signature associated with a data packetwhen detected at the datalink layer. The signature generator 314 may besimilar to the signature generator 212 of the cloud server 102.

In an implementation, the output component 308 may be part of the firstcommunication device 104A. In such a case, the output component 308 maybe an audio output device, a display device, or a combination thereof.In another implementation, the output component 308 may be distinct fromthe first communication device 104A and may be communicatively coupledto the first communication device 104A.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a network architecture forcommunication over a communication medium between two communicationdevices for application layer-independent triggering of events in acommunication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 4 is explained in conjunction with elements from FIGS.1, 2, and 3 . With reference to FIG. 4 , there is shown a networkarchitecture 400 for communication over a communication medium 418between two communication devices, such as the first communicationdevice 104A and the second communication device 104B, for applicationlayer-independent triggering of events in the communication network 106.

In an example, the network architecture 400 may be explained using anOpen Systems Interconnection (OSI) model well known in the art thatspecifies seven hierarchical layers (i.e., an application layer 402, apresentation layer 404, a session layer 406, a transport layer 408, anetwork layer 410, a datalink layer 412, and a physical layer 414) thatcomputer systems use to communicate over a network. The applicationlayer 402 may be used by end-user software applications, where theapplication layer 402 provides protocols that allow software to send andreceive information and present meaningful data to users. Thepresentation layer 404 typically defines how two communication devicesencrypt and compress data, so it is received correctly on the other end.The session layer 406 is known to maintain connections and isresponsible for controlling ports and sessions. In another example ofthe network architecture 400, for example, Transfer ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the functionalities of theapplication layer 402, the presentation layer 404, and the session layer406 is combined into the application layer 402. Moreover, the datalinklayer 412 and the physical layer 414 is further combined into a networkaccess layer. Thus, for the present disclosure, the datalink layer 412may be construed to encompass the network access layer and refer to thelowest layer of a given networking layers hierarchy, such as the networkarchitecture 400, where the data is first available in digitized format.

Typically, in the OSI model, the datalink layer 412 is responsible forestablishing and terminating a connection between two connected deviceson a network. The datalink layer 412 breaks up packets into frames andsends them from the source device to the destination device. Thedatalink layer 412 may be composed of two parts—Logical Link Control(LLC), which identifies network protocols, performs error checking andsynchronizes frames, and Media Access Control (MAC), which uses MACaddresses to connect devices and define permissions to transmit andreceive data. Currently, the application layer 402 controls anytriggering of events, such as a blockchain event, an event associatedwith a smart contract, an event associated with a fungible token (e.g.,a cryptocurrency), or an event associated with a non-fungible token(NFT), and the like. In conventional systems, such triggering mechanismfor recording any transaction or initiating any event is controlled bythe topmost layer of the network architecture 400, i.e., the applicationlayer 402, which creates a technical vulnerability and a challenge inthe tracking of each and every usage of the digital asset or a digitalservice. In other words, the tracking may not be possible for everyinstances of usage (e.g., a user consumption, such as view, download,access, playing, or gaining ownership rights of the digital asset, orprovisioning any custom service in telecommunications) may not befailsafe in existing systems. The communication devices, such as thefirst communication device 104A, and the method of the presentdisclosure removes the dependency on the application layer 402 (i.e.,the topmost layer of the network architecture 400) for being the sourceof triggering events, such as events related to a smart contract,blockchain, NFT related transactions, or fungible tokens, and enables tobring the triggering mechanism down to the lowest of the digitized layerin the networking hierarchy, i.e., the datalink layer 412. In otherwords, the communication devices, such as the first communication device104A, and the method of the present disclosure enables applicationlayer-independent accelerated triggering of events in the communicationnetwork 106 (e.g., a blockchain event, an event associated with a smartcontract, an event associated with a fungible token (e.g., acryptocurrency), or an event associated with a non-fungible token (NFT)may be triggered at the datalink layer 412).

In accordance with an embodiment, the user 116B who may operate thesecond communication device 104B may want to transmit a digital asset,such as an image, to the first communication device 104A. In an example,the second communication device 104B may be an electronic device, suchas a smartphone, communicatively coupled to the communication network106. In another example, the second communication device 104B may be aserver, such as the cloud server 102, which may be configured to presentan online platform (e.g., the electronic gateway system 102B) for thefirst communication device 104A to connect, interact, and consume thedigital asset. In an implementation, the electronic gateway system 102Bmay be configured to present metadata of multiple content libraries thatmay be owned by different entities, for example, different contentowners, distributors, re-distributors, VOD service providers, NFTs, andthe like, as a unified content library for its registered users, such asthe user 116A, to navigate.

Typically, at a given communication device, such as the secondcommunication device 104B, control is passed from one layer to the next,starting at the application layer 402 and proceeding up to the physicallayer 414 for transmitting user data (e.g., the image). The physicallayer 414 of the second communication device 104B may be responsible forthe transmission of raw data, which is simply a series of 0s and 1s,i.e., a raw bit stream, over the communication medium 418, in the formof a data signal 420.

In the present disclosure, before the user data (i.e., the digitalasset, such as the image) leaves the second communication device 104B, adefined signature 416 may be embedded and associated with the user data.In an implementation, the defined signature 416 may be embedded in aportion of user data that is to be transmitted by the secondcommunication device 104B. In an implementation, the embedding of thedefined signature 416 may be done using an application and may involvethe application layer 402 of the second communication device 104B. Inanother implementation, the embedding of the defined signature 416 andassociating the defined signature 416 with a given packet, may be donedirectly at the network layer 410 or the datalink layer 412. The definedsignature 416 may be associated with one of the data packets and may bea unique indicator.

In an implementation, the defined signature 416 may be a definedindicator or flag, a pre-generated index, or a pattern that may berecognizable by a hardware logic, a driver code, a firmware code, anuBoot image of a device. In an example, the defined signature 416 may beimplemented as a hashed value index. The hashed vale index may begenerated as a result of combining (XOR-ing) a bunch of other numeric oralphanumeric values. The hashed value index (i.e., a given hash value)used as a signature may be memory efficient as indexing of a table ofhash values may be comparatively faster and requires less memory spacein a memory device (both local memory of communication devices, and atthe cloud server 102 that may store millions of unique definedsignatures). In another implementation, the defined signature 416 may bea unique code, for example, an alphanumeric of a defined length. In yetanother implementation, the defined signature 416 may be a combinationof an identifier (ID) of a user generating the signature, a unique codefor the digital asset, and a number added incrementally for eachconsecutive packet of the same digital asset. Each defined signature,such as the defined signature 416, may be predefined, pre-registered,and pre-assigned to an action (i.e., a predefined action). Alternativelystated, all defined signatures may be predefined, pre-registered,pre-assigned to a corresponding set of actions.

In accordance with an embodiment, in a case where the secondcommunication device 104B do not have pre-installed instructions togenerate the defined signature 416, the second communication device 104Bmay be configured to acquire the instructions from the cloud server 102to generate the defined signature 416. For example, a binary version ofa source code may be downloaded to generate a given defined signaturethat can be detected at a packet level or frame level. In other words, ahashing algorithm that provides and generates unique hash values may bemade available in binary format so that third party entities or anydevices may use it and define an action for the defined signature 416(i.e., what event is to be triggered when the defined signature 416 isdetected using the ecosystem 100). Thus, the second communication device104B may be configured to communicate a data signal 420 to the firstcommunication device 104A. The data signal 420 may comprise the definedsignature 416, which may be associated with at least a portion of theuser data.

The processor 302 of the first communication device 104A may beconfigured to receive the data signal 420 from the second communicationdevice 104B. The data signal 420 may be received over the communicationmedium 418. The communication medium 418 may be a wired or wirelessmedium. For example, the data signal 420 received from the secondcommunication device 104B may be a wireless radio signal, an electricalsignal received via a physical electrically conductive medium (e.g., awired medium), or an optical signal. The processor 302 of the firstcommunication device 104A may be further configured to convert the datasignal 420 to a bit stream at the physical layer 414 of the networkarchitecture 400. The bit stream refers to raw data (e.g., a series of“0” and “1” bits).

The processor 302 may be further configured to execute a frame levelinspection of the bit stream at the datalink layer 412 for the definedsignature 416. The processor 302 may be further configured to detect thedefined signature 416 associated with a first data packet in a framebased on the executed frame level inspection of the bit stream at thedatalink layer 412. The defined signature 416 associated with the firstdata packet may be a unique indicator.

It is well-known that a frame is a digital data transmission unit andmay also be referred to as a protocol data unit (PDU). In this case, thefirst communication device 104A may be the receiver device that picks upthe data signal 420 from its hardware, such as the network interface304, and assembles it into frames. In an example, a given frame maycomprise frame header, payload (i.e., the user data), trailer, and flag,also known in the art. The frame header may comprise a destinationaddress, a source address and control fields, such as kind, seq, andack, where the kind field may state whether the frame may be a dataframe or used for control functions like error and flow control or linkmanagement, and the like. The “seq” field may comprise a sequence numberof the frame for rearrangement of out-of-sequence frames and sendingacknowledgements.

In the present disclosure, in an implementation, the processor 302 maybe further configured to detect the defined signature 416 in a frame byinspection of the frame header, where the frame header may be modifiedto include an illegal type of frame header, such as an undefined frameheader type. This illegal type may then point to a certain portion ofthe payload, where the defined signature resides (e.g., it may point toa unique hash index value). In another implementation, the processor 302may be further configured to detect the defined signature 416 in theframe by detecting a predefined pattern in the frame header which isindicative of an upcoming signature (i.e., the defined signature 416) ina portion of the payload (i.e., the user data). In yet anotherimplementation, the defined signature 416 may be detected using acorrelator and a match filter that may detect the defined signature 416.The correlator and a match filter may be implemented as a hardware logicor a driver and may be pre-installed or acquired from the cloud server102 when in operation. The detection of the defined signature 416 in aframe or packet may occur for an Ethernet communication (i.e., IEEE802.3 frame format), network packets of wireless signals (e.g., IEEE802.11 frame structure) or cellular communication (e.g., 5G New Radio(NR) frame format), or true 5G radio frame. In other words, the framemay be a radio frame, an Ethernet frame, or 802.11 based frame.

In accordance with an embodiment, the processor 302 may be furtherconfigured to execute an online cloud level verification or an offlinedevice level verification of the defined signature 416. In the case ofthe online cloud level verification, the processor 302 may be furtherconfigured to communicate the defined signature 416 to the cloud server102 for verification when the defined signature 416 associated with thefirst data packet is detected at the datalink layer 412. Thereafter, theprocessor 302 may be further configured to execute a standard flow of aplurality of data packets from the physical layer 414 to the applicationlayer 402 for playing of corresponding data associated with theplurality of data packets on the output component 308 until a decisiondatum confirming the verification of the defined signature 416 assuccessful is obtained from the cloud server 102. Alternatively stated,the processor 302 may not immediately interrupt decryption and playbackof a next data packet after the first data packet and may continue toserve the user 116A until the decision of the cloud server 102 reachesthe first communication device 104A. In an implementation, the outputcomponent 308 may be a part of the first communication device 104A, forexample, an audio device or a display device of the first communicationdevice 104A. In another implementation, the output component 308 may bean external component, such as another device distinct from the firstcommunication device 104A and communicatively coupled to the firstcommunication device 104A. For example, in a case where the firstcommunication device 104A is a repeater device, the actual consumptionof the user data may occur at a UE being served by the repeater device,where the repeater device may not have an inbuilt display or audiocomponent.

In accordance with an embodiment, the processor 302 may be furtherconfigured to maintain the standard flow of the plurality of datapackets from the physical layer 414 to the application layer 402 for theplaying of the corresponding data associated with the plurality of datapackets on the output component 308 upon verification of the definedsignature 416 as successful. Alternatively, the processor 302 may befurther configured to interrupt a next data packet from playing when thedecision datum obtained from the cloud server 102 confirms theverification of the defined signature 416 as unsuccessful.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the case of the offline devicelevel verification, the processor 302 may be further configured toexecute a local validity check of the defined signature 416 at the firstcommunication device 104A for verification when the defined signature416 associated with the first data packet is detected at the datalinklayer 412. The local validity check of the defined signature 416 at thefirst communication device 104A may comprise executing a patternrecognition of the defined signature 416 based on at least one of apredefined hardware logic, a predefined driver code, a predefinedfirmware code, a hashed value index, a bootable image, an operatingsystem kernel image, or a binary image present in the firstcommunication device 104A.

In accordance with an embodiment, the processor 302 may be furtherconfigured to execute the standard flow of the plurality of data packetsfrom the physical layer 414 to the application layer 402 for playing ofcorresponding data associated with the plurality of data packets on theoutput component 308 until a decision datum confirming the verificationof the defined signature 416 as successful is obtained locally based onthe local validity check of the defined signature 416 at the firstcommunication device 104A. The processor 302 may be further configuredto maintain the standard flow of the plurality of data packets from thephysical layer 414 to the application layer 402 for the playing of thecorresponding data associated with the plurality of data packets on theoutput component 308 upon verification of the defined signature 416 assuccessful from the local validity check of the defined signature 416 atthe first communication device 104A. Alternatively, the processor 302may be further configured to interrupt the next data packet from playingat the output component 308 when the decision datum confirms theverification of the defined signature 416 as unsuccessful. The decisiondatum may be obtained locally based on the local validity check of thedefined signature 416 at the first communication device 104A.

The processor 302 may be further configured to trigger an event in thecommunication network 106 at the datalink layer 412 irrespective ofinvolvement of an application layer 402 of the network architecture 400based on the detected defined signature 416 associated with the firstdata packet. In an example, the defined signature 416 may be associatedwith a first portion (e.g., may be embedded in the first packet) of userdata (i.e., the payload) received from the second communication device104B, where the linkage among the plurality of data packets (i.e.,sequence of packets or frames) may be managed by the servicing protocolof the network architecture 400. For instance, any of the layersresponsible for such management of the sequence of data packets (e.g.,datalink layer 412, the network layer 410, the transport layer 408, thesession layer 406) of the network architecture 400. For instance, theremay be a data stream playing a song. The defined signature 416 may beassociated with the first 64-byte packet's payload, which indicates thatthis song requires payment as a predefined set of actions to be paid bya token, such as a fungible token (e.g., a cryptocurrency). Theecosystem 100 may be configured to detect the defined signature 416 atthe lowest digitized layer (e.g., the datalink layer 412) without theneed for the user data to involve the application layer 402 and triggerpredefined the action required, such as the requirement of the paymentto continue playing the remaining part of the song. The networkarchitecture 400 and its layers may manage the packet linkage and itsmanagement, and the operations of the processor 302 may not interferewith the other operations and layers of the network architecture 400except that the triggering mechanism modified and improved to be managedat the lowest digitized layer of the networking hierarchy (e.g., thedatalink layer 412 of the network architecture 400).

In accordance with an embodiment, the defined signature 416 may bepre-registered and pre-assigned to the one or more predefined actions inthe main action database 102A. Thus, the processor 302 may be furtherconfigured to trigger one or more predefined actions defined in the mainaction database 102A when the defined signature 416 associated with thefirst data packet is detected at the datalink layer 412. The main actiondatabase 102A may be an external database that resides either in one ormore other communication devices different from the first communicationdevice 104A or resides in the cloud server 102 (FIG. 1 ).

In an implementation, the triggering of the event in the communicationnetwork 106 may comprise triggering a new event in the distributedledger 114 of a blockchain 422 (i.e., the DLSC system 108) at thedatalink layer 412 without the involvement of the application layer 402of the network architecture 400. In an implementation, the triggering ofthe event in the communication network 106 further comprises triggeringa smart contract 112 a (of the smart contract system 112) associatedwith the blockchain 422 at the datalink layer 412 without theinvolvement of the application layer 402 of the network architecture400.

In accordance with an embodiment, the detection of the defined signature416 and the triggering of the event may be executed at a wire speed.Thus, the processor 302 may be further configured to interrupt orcorrupt a flow of the data stream when one of the following occurs: a)when the cloud server 102 or the local validity check confirms theverification of the defined signature 416 as unsuccessful; b) when acopyright check of the played data stream (e.g., the song) reveals acopyright infringement or theft; or c) when the action defined in themain action database 102A for the defined signature 416 indicates forimmediate termination of the data stream being played. In such a case,the processor 302 may be configured to block the data stream, drop theupcoming packets, or corrupt the final checksum to abort such activityand report back the reason (to the application layer 402 of the firstcommunication device 104A and create an entry in a cloud log of thecloud server 102).

In yet another implementation, the defined signature 416 may be embeddedin a plurality of portions of the user data that is to be transmitted bythe second communication device 104B. In yet another implementation, aplurality of different defined signatures may be embedded in theplurality of portions of the user data that is to be transmitted by thesecond communication device 104B to the first communication device 104A.In such an implementation, the plurality of different defined signaturesmay trigger a different type of event in the communication network 106.In an implementation, each of the plurality of different definedsignatures may be linked to a different action in the main actiondatabase 102A, which in turn may trigger different events as defined bya user.

In an exemplary scenario, a user, such as the user 116A, of the firstcommunication device 104A, may create an NFT at an online portal managedby the cloud server 102. The first communication device 104A may checkthe authenticity of the digital asset for which the NFT is created usinga copyright database that may be stored in the cloud server 102. Forexample, when the first communication device 104A detects the definedsignature 416, it may trigger search events in two cloud databasesconcurrently, such as the main action database 102A and the copyrightdatabase pointed by the cloud server 102. In an example, a first searchmay occur in the copyright database, where if a search result indicatesa copyright violation for the digital asset (e.g., image, video, audio),the copyright database decision may get priority and terminate the flowof the plurality of packets. Thus, a signal may be communicated by thecloud server 102 to the first communication device 104A to block theflow of the next packets (i.e., the standard flow of the plurality ofdata packets of the copyrighted digital asset from the physical layer414 to the application layer 402 for playing of corresponding dataassociated with the plurality of data packets may be interrupted on theoutput component 308. The block flow signal may be communicated even ifthe main action database 102A defines an action that a charge of “X”amount of token (e.g., 0.01 value) of cryptocurrency is collected forfurther consumption of the digital asset.

In another implementation, some objects or digital assets may becopyrighted but may be defined in rules to be allowed to get a pass fromthe copyright database so that an action defined in the main actiondatabase 102A is to be executed using the pass. Such rules for copyrightmanagement may be defined by the owner of the digital asset who has thecopyright at the time of registering for copyright or at the time ofgenerating a defined signature for the digital asset. For example, acopyrighted material may be free-to-use for certain duration, forcertain IP addresses, for certain users, or for certain geography, andthe like. Thus, based on the DLSC system 108 and the ecosystem 100, suchsmart and dynamic content rights and event execution management may beenabled.

FIG. 5 is a network environment diagram with a cloud server and acommunication device for application layer-independent acceleratedtriggering of events in a communication network, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure. With reference to FIG. 5 , thereis shown a network environment diagram 500 that comprises the cloudserver 102, the first communication device 104A, and a content storageserver 502. In an implementation, the content storage server 502 mayinclude the copyright database 214.

In operation, in accordance with an embodiment, a user, such as the user116A, of the first communication device 104A, may want to create an NFTof a digital asset via an online portal managed by the cloud server 102.The cloud server 102 may be configured to present a user interface (UI)on the first communication device 104A. The processor 202 of the cloudserver 102 may be configured to obtain a request from the firstcommunication device 104A to register the digital asset. At the time ofregistration of the digital asset (e.g., a video or an image or anypiece of digital art), the processor 202 may be further configured tocheck the authenticity of the digital asset for which the NFT is createdusing the copyright database 214. The copyright database 214 may beaccessible by the cloud server 102. In an implementation, the copyrightdatabase 214 may be stored in the cloud server 102. In anotherimplementation, the copyright database 214 may be stored in anotherserver, such as the content storage server 502, but may be accessible tothe cloud server 102.

In accordance with an embodiment, the processor 202 may be configured toembed the defined signature (e.g., the defined signature 416) in the oneor more portions of the digital asset. At the time of first registrationof the digital asset, the cloud server 102 may be configured to embedthe defined signature (e.g., the defined signature 416) in the one ormore portions of the digital asset. Furthermore, a user-defined actionmay be assigned to the defined signature in the main action database102A. In an implementation, the user-defined action may be assigned tothe defined signature in the main action database 102A in a real-time ora near real-time based on a request (e.g., a user input) received fromthe first communication device 104A. The user-defined action may specifywhat action to take when the defined signature (e.g., the definedsignature 416) is detected and successfully validated by the cloudserver 102. As the cloud server 102 checks for copyright violation ifany related to the registered digital asset at the time of registeringthe digital asset, the legitimacy issue of NFT is resolved. Theprocessor 202 may be configured to execute a resemblance search of thedigital asset in the copyright database 214. In a first example, in acase where the digital asset is a video, a portion of the video may becompared in a preliminary examination to copyrighted materials stored inthe content storage server 502. In a case where the resemblance ishigher than a threshold, an extensive examination may be carried out tofind if the portion of the video matches with the prestored copyrightedvideos. In such a case, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that ispretrained on the copyrighted videos may be used to determine theresemblance between the digital asset being registered with that of theprestored copyrighted videos. If the probability is greater than 80%,then instead of a single portion, multiple portions (i.e., multiplevideo segments) of the same video may be searched for checking copyrightviolation. Similar to the video based AI model, depending on the type ofdigital asset, for example, a video, an image, a gaming character, agraphical item, a text material, different pre-trained AI models thatmay be trained on a particular type of digital asset may be selected toascertain the resemblance within a defined threshold time (e.g., lessthan a few milliseconds or seconds). For instance, if the digital assetto be registered is an image, then a dedicated AI model pre-trained onimages of the copyrighted material may be used for resemblance search.

In an implementation, based on a plurality of AI models that arepre-trained on different types of digital assets (e.g., videos, images,text, and graphical items), different unique codes (e.g., hash codes, oralphanumeric codes, or patterns) may be prestored for each copyrightedmaterial available. In some cases, all digital media uploaded on asocial media by a user of the social media may be tagged with theusername of the user and may also be processed to generate the differentunique codes so that any new digital asset may be checked for copyrightviolation by just comparing with the unique codes instead of thecontent-based resemblance search (i.e., matching actual content), tosignificantly reduce time to execute the resemblance search.

The digital asset may be requested by one of the plurality ofcommunication devices 104 for consumption (e.g., for viewing, accessing,downloading, playing of audio, etc.). For instance, the firstcommunication device 104A may receive the data signal 420 from thesecond communication device 104B. The data signal 420 may be receivedover the communication medium 418. The first communication device 104Amay be further configured to convert the data signal 420 to a bit streamat the physical layer 414 of the network architecture 400. The bitstream refers to raw data (e.g., a series of “0” and “1” bits). Thefirst communication device 104A may be further configured to execute aframe level inspection of the bit stream at the datalink layer 412 forthe defined signature 416. The processor 302 may be further configuredto detect the defined signature 416 associated with one or more datapackets in a frame based on a frame level inspection of the bit streamexecuted at the datalink layer 412. The defined signature 416 associatedwith one or more data packets (e.g., a first data packet) may be aunique indicator. In some implementations, the processor 202 of cloudserver 102 may be further configured to cause the first communicationdevice 104A to execute the frame level inspection of the bit stream ofthe digital asset at the datalink layer 412 of the network architecture400 for the defined signature.

In accordance with an embodiment, the first communication device 104Amay be further configured to communicate the defined signature 416 tothe cloud server 102 for verification when the defined signature 416associated with one or more data packets (e.g., the first data packet)is detected at the datalink layer 412. Thereafter, the firstcommunication device 104A may be further configured to execute astandard flow of a plurality of data packets from the physical layer 414to the application layer 402 for playing of corresponding dataassociated with the plurality of data packets on the output component308 until a decision datum confirming the verification of the definedsignature 416 as successful or not successful is obtained from the cloudserver 102. Alternatively stated, the first communication device 104Amay not immediately interrupt decryption and playback of a next datapacket after the first data packet and may continue to serve a user(e.g., the user 116A) until the decision of the cloud server 102 reachesthe first communication device 104A.

The processor 202 of the cloud server 102 may be configured to obtainthe defined signature 416 from the first communication device 104A. Thedefined signature 416 may be then deciphered by the cloud server 102.The processor 202 may be further configured to validate the definedsignature 416 based on the search of the defined signature 416 in themain action database 102A in the cloud server 102. In an example, theprocessor 202 may cause the verification system 208 to verify theobtained defined signature 416. The verification system 208 may haveaccess to a list of defined signatures (e.g., a hash index table)prestored in the main action database 102A. The obtained definedsignatures 416 may be compared with the list of defined signatures tocheck a presence of the obtained defined signatures 416 in the list. Ina case where the obtained defined signatures 416 is present in the listof defined signatures, presence is found, the validation of the definedsignature 416 may be considered as successful. In other words, it may bechecked whether the validation of the defined signature 416 issuccessful or not. In a case where the validation is successful, it maybe further checked whether a copyright check is required or not for thedigital asset associated with the defined signature 416. In a case wherethe validation is not successful, the processor 202 may be furtherconfigured to interrupt one or more data packets of the digital assetfrom being consumed at the first communication device 104A. In a casewhere it is determined that a copyright check is required for thedigital asset associated with the defined signature 416, the processor202 may be further configured to execute the resemblance search of thedigital asset in the copyright database 214 accessible by the cloudserver 102. The resemblance search may be performed similar to thatperformed during the registration.

The processor 202 may be further configured to determine an occurrenceof a copyright violation for the digital asset based on a resemblancesearch of the digital asset in the copyright database 214 accessible bythe cloud server 102. The processor 202 may be further configured tointerrupt one or more data packets of the digital asset from beingconsumed at the first communication device 104A based on the occurrenceof the copyright violation determined for the digital asset. Theinterruption of the one or more data packets is executed at one or morelayers different from the application layer 402 of the networkarchitecture 400 at the first communication device 104A. For instance,the one or more layers may be the datalink layer 412 and the networklayer 410. In some implementations, the one or more layers may be any ofthe layers responsible for management of a sequence of data packets(e.g., datalink layer 412, the network layer 410, the transport layer408, and the session layer 406) of the network architecture 400 exceptthe application layer 402. In order to interrupt the one or more datapackets of the digital asset from being consumed at the firstcommunication device 104A, the processor 202 may cause the firstcommunication device 104A to disrupt a standard flow of a plurality ofdata packets from the physical layer 414 to the application layer 402 sothat an output (i.e., playing) of corresponding data associated with theplurality of data packets on the output component 308 communicativelycoupled to the first communication device 104A is disrupted. Forexample, decryption of the data packets may be blocked, or bits of datapackets may be scrambled to disrupt presentation and playback of a nextdata packet after the first data packet. The output component 308 may bea part of the first communication device 104A or may be an externalcomponent communicatively coupled to the first communication device104A.

Alternatively, in accordance with an embodiment, the processor 202 maybe further configured to determine an absence of the copyright violationfor the digital asset when the resemblance search of the digital assetin the copyright database 214 is negative. In such a case where thedefined signature validation is successful as well as there is nocopyright violation or copyright check is not required, the processor202 may be further configured to trigger an event in the communicationnetwork 106 based on the validated defined signature 416 (i.e., asuccessful validation of the defined signature 416) and the absence ofthe copyright violation for the digital asset. As the defined signature416 is associated with an action in the main action database 102A, theprocessor 202 may be further configured to select the correspondingaction associated with the defined signature 416, and then execute theaction accordingly at the wire speed as defined in the main actiondatabase 102A. Moreover, as the triggering mechanism is independent ofthe application layer 402, the detection of copyright and blocking ofdata packets can be effectively achieved which was otherwise notpractical in case of use of the application layer 402 for triggering anyevents in conventional systems. The cloud server 102 significantlyreduces the latency and vulnerability involved in application-layerbased processing and triggering of events by making the triggeringmechanism be executed at the lowest digitalized layer (e.g., thedatalink layer 412 or one or more other layers different from theapplication layer 402) of the network architecture 400 (e.g., OSInetwork architecture). This in turn improves the reliability andaccuracy of tracking each user consumption of a digital asset on adevice, such as the first communication device 104A, while reducing theknown vulnerabilities of the application layer 402. Furthermore, thecloud server 102 and the plurality of communication devices 104 of thepresent disclosure provides the ecosystem 100 to track any usage of agiven digital asset even if the digital asset is distributed orre-distributed multiple times across a single digital platform or acrossdifferent digital platforms. Thus, the ecosystem 100 manifest higherquality of experience (QoE) and reliable digital asset usage andconsumption tracking on-the-fly as compared to existing systems.

In an implementation, the triggering of the event in the communicationnetwork 106 may include triggering a new event in the distributed ledger114 of the blockchain 422 (i.e., the DLSC system 108), wherein thetriggering is initiated at the one or more layers of the networkarchitecture 400 different from the application layer 402 of the networkarchitecture 400. In a first example, there may be a data stream playinga video, that may be tokenized as NFT. The defined signature 416 may beassociated with the first 64-byte packet's payload, which indicates thatthe video NFT requires payment as a predefined set of actions to be paidby a token, such as a cryptocurrency like Ethereum. Once the cloudserver 102 validates the defined signature 416 as successful andconfirms that there is no copyright violation for the NFT video, apredefined action is triggered, such as the requirement of the paymentto continue playing the remaining part of the NFT video. The networkarchitecture 400 and its layers may manage the packet linkage and itsmanagement, and the operations of the cloud server 102 and as well asthe first communication device 104 a may not interfere with the otheroperations and layers of the network architecture 400 except that thetriggering mechanism is modified and improved to be managed at thelowest digitized layer of the networking hierarchy (e.g., the datalinklayer 412 of the network architecture 400).

In another example, the first communication device 104A may be arepeater device or an access point, which may be used to communicatedifferent data streams for different subscribers, and some of the userdevices (i.e., streaming customers) may require the Quality of Service(QoS) feature enabled and may be willing to pay for it and some of theuser devices (streaming customers) may not require such QoS features.The cloud server 102 enables such ecosystem 100 where on the fly smartcontract may be made and when a given defined signature is validatedsuccessfully and the copyright check is passed, the cloud server 102allows QoS feature to be enabled for specific user devices and maintaina record of it.

In an implementation, the triggering of the event in the communicationnetwork 106 may further include triggering a smart contract (e.g., asmart contract 112 a of the smart contract system 112) associated withthe blockchain 422 at the one or more layers of the network architecture400 different from the application layer 402 of the network architecture400. For instance, the user 116A of the first communication device 104Amay want to communicate with the user 116B of the second communicationdevice 104B in an emergency. The user 116A of the first communicationdevice 104A may be in an area where a first carrier signal in 5G of afirst telecom service provider may not be available, and a nearby basestation may be operating within Federal Communications Commission (FCC)rules that defines radiation level operating thresholds fortelecommunications but may still not provide adequate coverage for thefirst communication device 104A for 5G for uplink and downlinkcommunication. By use of the ecosystem 100, in such situation, the firstcommunication device 104A may send a request to enable 5G communicationfor limited time period, say 1 hour. The cloud server 102 may beconfigured to generate dynamic smart contract (e.g., the smart contract112 b) between the first communication device 104A and a dedicatedservice provider and make available the 5G signal to the firstcommunication device 104A. For example, for emergency video calling forlimited period of time, the radiation level of the RF signals from thebase station may be increased or a new service provider may be enrolledto serve the first communication device 104A. The dedicated serviceprovider which may provide the service may be any service provideravailable and willing to provide the requested service at that time.Thus, the dedicated service provider may be the original first telecomservice provider or a new telecom service provider for which on the flysmart contract may be created.

In an implementation, the triggering of the event in the communicationnetwork 106 may be independent of smart contract, but may includetriggering one or more predefined actions defined in the main actiondatabase 102A when the defined signature associated with the digitalasset is validated as well as when the occurrence of the copyrightviolation is negative. The processor 202 may be further configured togenerate a log of the start time and the end time of the event andassociated action. Similarly, a log of start and end time of theinterruption of the one or more data packets of the digital asset mayalso be recorded.

In an implementation, depending on what kind of request it is from acommunication device, such as the first communication device 104A, tothe cloud server 102, an event may happen at different layers of thenetwork architecture 400. Alternatively stated, the ecosystem 100including the cloud server 102 may be further configured to segregaterequests based on their type (e.g., an access request of a digitalasset, a telecommunication service request, a download or play requestof a NFT video, etc.), and then select a layer of operation in thenetwork architecture 400 amongst the plurality of layers for eventtriggering.

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively is a flowchart diagram illustrating amethod for application layer-independent accelerated triggering ofevents in a communication network, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe disclosure. With reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, there is shown aflowchart 600 comprising exemplary operations 602 through 622. Theoperations of the method depicted in the flowchart 600 may beimplemented in the cloud server 102 (FIG. 1 ).

At 602, a request may be obtained from the first communication device104A to register a digital asset. The processor 202 may be configured toobtain the request from the first communication device 104A to registera digital asset.

At 604, a defined signature (e.g., the defined signature 416) may beembedded in one or more portions of the digital asset based on therequest received from the first communication device 104A. The processor202 may be configured to embed the defined signature (e.g., the definedsignature 416) in the one or more portions of the digital asset. In animplementation, a user-defined action may be assigned to the definedsignature in the main action database 102A in a real-time or a nearreal-time based on a request received from the first communicationdevice 104A. In some implementations, the processor 202 may be furtherconfigured to cause the first communication device 104A to execute aframe level inspection of a bit stream of the digital asset at thedatalink layer 412 of the network architecture 400 for the definedsignature.

At 606, the defined signature may be obtained from the firstcommunication device 104A, where the defined signature is associatedwith the digital asset at the first communication device 104A. Theprocessor 202 may be configured to obtain the defined signature from thefirst communication device 104A. The defined signature may be thendeciphered by the cloud server 102.

At 608, the defined signature may be validated based on a search of thedefined signature in the main action database 102A in the cloud server102. The processor 202 may be further configured to validate the definedsignature based on the search of the defined signature in the mainaction database 102A in the cloud server 102.

At 610, it may be checked whether the validation of the definedsignature is successful or not. In a case where the validation issuccessful, the control moves to 612. In a case where the validation isnot successful, the control moves to 618.

At 612, it may be checked whether a copyright check is required or notfor the digital asset associated with the defined signature. In a casewhere it is determined that a copyright check is required for thedigital asset associated with the defined signature, the control passesto 614 or else the control passes to 620.

At 614, a resemblance search of the digital asset may be executed in acopyright database 214 accessible by the cloud server 102. The processor202 may be further configured to execute the resemblance search of thedigital asset in the copyright database 214 accessible by the cloudserver 102.

At 616A, an occurrence of a copyright violation may be determined forthe digital asset based on a resemblance search of the digital asset inthe copyright database 214 accessible by the cloud server 102. Thecontrol from 616A passes to 618. Alternatively, at 616B, an absence ofthe copyright violation may be determined for the digital asset when theresemblance search of the digital asset in the copyright database 214 isnegative. The control from 616B passes to 620.

At 618, one or more data packets of the digital asset may be interruptedfrom being consumed at the first communication device 104A based on theoccurrence of the copyright violation determined for the digital asset.The interruption of the one or more data packets is executed at one ormore layers different from the application layer 402 of the networkarchitecture 400 at the first communication device 104A.

At 620, an event may be triggered in the communication network 106 basedon the validated defined signature and the absence of the copyrightviolation for the digital asset. The triggering of the event in thecommunication network 106 may include one or more sub-operations 620A,620B, and 620C. At 620A, a new event may be triggered in the distributedledger 114 of the blockchain 422 (i.e., the DLSC system 108) at the oneor more layers of the network architecture 400 different from theapplication layer 402 of the network architecture 400. At 620B, a smartcontract (e.g., a smart contract 112 a of the smart contract system 112)associated with the blockchain 422 may be triggered at the one or morelayers of the network architecture 400 different from the applicationlayer 402 of the network architecture 400. At 620C, one or morepredefined actions defined in the main action database 102A may betriggered when the defined signature associated with the digital assetis validated as well as when the occurrence of the copyright violationis negative.

At 622, a log may be generated of a start time and an end time of theevent and associated action or the interruption of the one or more datapackets of the digital asset from being consumed at the firstcommunication device 104A. The processor 202 may be further configuredto generate the log of the start time and the end time of the event andassociated action or the interruption of the one or more data packets ofthe digital asset.

In an implementation, the method, and the communication devices, such asthe first communication device 104A and the cloud server 102, of thepresent disclosure may be suitable for various low latency missioncritical applications, in which the verification of the definedsignature 416 and the triggering of events are enabled on-the-fly usingthe ecosystem 100. Examples of the low latency mission criticalapplications may include, but not limited to in the areas ofentertainment, multimedia, gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtualreality (VR), shared virtual environment (e.g., metaverse), real-timevideo conferencing, vehicle to everything (V2X), teleoperated driving,telecommunication based services, and drones operated through mobilenetworks.

Various embodiments of the disclosure may provide a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-implementedinstructions that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer toexecute operations to obtain a defined signature 416 from the firstcommunication device 104A, where the defined signature 416 may beassociated with a digital asset at the first communication device 104A.The operations further include validating the defined signature 416based on a search of the defined signature in a main action database102A in the cloud server 102. The operations further include determiningthat a copyright check is required for the digital asset associated withthe defined signature 416. The operations further include determining anoccurrence of a copyright violation for the digital asset based on aresemblance search of the digital asset in a copyright databaseaccessible by the cloud server 102. The operations further includeinterrupting one or more data packets of the digital asset from beingconsumed at the first communication device 104A based on the occurrenceof the copyright violation determined for the digital asset, where theinterruption of the one or more data packets is executed at one or morelayers different from the application layer 402 of the networkarchitecture 400 at the first communication device 104A.

Various embodiments of the disclosure may include the cloud server 102that comprises the processor 202. The processor 202 may be configured toobtain a defined signature 416 from the first communication device 104A,where the defined signature 416 may be associated with a digital assetat the first communication device 104A. The processor 202 may be furtherconfigured to validate the defined signature 416 based on a search ofthe defined signature in a main action database 102A in the cloud server102. The processor 202 may be further configured to determine that acopyright check is required for the digital asset associated with thedefined signature 416. The processor 202 may be further configured todetermine an occurrence of a copyright violation for the digital assetbased on a resemblance search of the digital asset in a copyrightdatabase accessible by the cloud server 102. The processor 202 may befurther configured to interrupt one or more data packets of the digitalasset from being consumed at the first communication device 104A basedon the occurrence of the copyright violation determined for the digitalasset, where the interruption of the one or more data packets isexecuted at one or more layers different from the application layer 402of the network architecture 400 at the first communication device 104A.

While various embodiments described in the present disclosure have beendescribed above, it should be understood that they have been presentedby way of example, and not limitation. It is to be understood thatvarious changes in form and detail can be made therein without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure. In addition to using hardware(e.g., within or coupled to a central processing unit (“CPU”),microprocessor, micro controller, digital signal processor, processorcore, system on chip (“SOC”) or any other device), implementations mayalso be embodied in software (e.g. computer readable code, program code,and/or instructions disposed in any form, such as source, object ormachine language) disposed for example in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium configured to store the software. Such softwarecan enable, for example, the function, fabrication, modeling,simulation, description and/or testing of the apparatus and methodsdescribe herein. For example, this can be accomplished through the useof general program languages (e.g., C, C++), hardware descriptionlanguages (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, and so on, or otheravailable programs. Such software can be disposed in any knownnon-transitory computer-readable medium, such as semiconductor, magneticdisc, or optical disc (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.). The software canalso be disposed as computer data embodied in a non-transitorycomputer-readable transmission medium (e.g., solid state memory or anyother non-transitory medium including digital, optical, analog-basedmedium, such as removable storage media). Embodiments of the presentdisclosure may include methods of providing the apparatus describedherein by providing software describing the apparatus and subsequentlytransmitting the software as a computer data signal over a communicationnetwork including the internet and intranets.

It is to be further understood that the system described herein may beincluded in a semiconductor intellectual property core, such as amicrocontroller (e.g., embodied in HDL) and transformed to hardware inthe production of integrated circuits. Additionally, the systemdescribed herein may be embodied as a combination of hardware andsoftware. Thus, the present disclosure should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cloud server, comprising: a processorconfigured to: obtain a defined signature from a first communicationdevice, wherein the defined signature is associated with a digital assetat the first communication device; validate the defined signature basedon a search of the defined signature in a main action database in thecloud server; determine that a copyright check is required for thedigital asset associated with the defined signature; determine anoccurrence of a copyright violation for the digital asset based on aresemblance search of the digital asset in a copyright databaseaccessible by the cloud server; and interrupt one or more data packetsof the digital asset from being consumed at the first communicationdevice based on the occurrence of the copyright violation determined forthe digital asset, wherein the interruption of the one or more datapackets is executed at one or more layers different from an applicationlayer of a network architecture at the first communication device. 2.The cloud server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine an absence of the copyright violation for thedigital asset when the resemblance search of the digital asset in thecopyright database is negative.
 3. The cloud server according to claim2, wherein the processor is further configured to trigger an event in acommunication network based on the validated defined signature and theabsence of the copyright violation for the digital asset.
 4. The cloudserver according to claim 3, wherein the triggering of the event in thecommunication network comprises triggering a new event in a distributedledger of a blockchain at the one or more layers of the networkarchitecture different from the application layer of the networkarchitecture.
 5. The cloud server according to claim 4, wherein thetriggering of the event in the communication network further comprisestriggering a smart contract associated with the blockchain at the one ormore layers of the network architecture different from the applicationlayer of the network architecture.
 6. The cloud server according toclaim 1, further comprising a primary storage configured to store a mainaction database, wherein the processor is further configured to triggerone or more predefined actions defined in the main action database whenthe defined signature associated with the digital asset is validated aswell as when the occurrence of the copyright violation is negative. 7.The cloud server according to claim 6, wherein the defined signature ispre-registered and pre-assigned to the one or more predefined actions inthe main action database.
 8. The cloud server according to claim 6,wherein the processor is further configured to assign a user-definedaction to the defined signature in the main action database in areal-time or a near real-time based on a request received from the firstcommunication device.
 9. The cloud server according to claim 6, whereinthe processor is further configured to cause the first communicationdevice to execute a frame level inspection of a bit stream of thedigital asset at a datalink layer of the network architecture for thedefined signature.
 10. The cloud server according to claim 1, whereinthe processor is further configured to: obtain a request from the firstcommunication device to register the digital asset; and embed thedefined signature in one or more portions of the digital asset based onthe request received from the first communication device.
 11. A method,comprising: in a cloud server: obtaining a defined signature from afirst communication device, wherein the defined signature is associatedwith a digital asset at the first communication device; validating thedefined signature based on a search of the defined signature in a mainaction database in the cloud server; determining that a copyright checkis required for the digital asset associated with the defined signature;determining an occurrence of a copyright violation for the digital assetbased on a resemblance search of the digital asset in a copyrightdatabase accessible by the cloud server; and interrupting one or moredata packets of the digital asset from being consumed at the firstcommunication device based on the occurrence of the copyright violationdetermined for the digital asset, wherein the interruption of the one ormore data packets is executed at one or more layers different from anapplication layer of a network architecture at the first communicationdevice.
 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingdetermining an absence of the copyright violation for the digital assetwhen the resemblance search of the digital asset in the copyrightdatabase is negative.
 13. The method according to claim 12, furthercomprising triggering an event in a communication network based on thevalidated defined signature and the absence of the copyright violationfor the digital asset.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein thetriggering of the event in the communication network comprisestriggering a new event in a distributed ledger of a blockchain, andwherein the triggering is initiated at the one or more layers of thenetwork architecture different from the application layer of the networkarchitecture.
 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein thetriggering of the event in the communication network further comprisestriggering a smart contract associated with the blockchain at the one ormore layers of the network architecture different from the applicationlayer of the network architecture.
 16. The method according to claim 11,further comprising triggering one or more predefined actions defined ina main action database of the cloud server when the defined signatureassociated with the digital asset is validated as well as when theoccurrence of the copyright violation is negative.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein the defined signature is pre-registeredand pre-assigned to the one or more predefined actions in the mainaction database.
 18. The method according to claim 16, furthercomprising assigning a user-defined action to the defined signature inthe main action database in a real-time or a near real-time based on arequest received from the first communication device.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 16, further comprising causing the firstcommunication device to execute a frame level inspection of a bit streamof the digital asset at a datalink layer of the network architecture forthe defined signature.
 20. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising: obtain a request from the first communication device toregister the digital asset; and embed the defined signature in one ormore portions of the digital asset based on the request received fromthe first communication device.